365 STEPS TO SELF-CONFIDENCE
Embrace every opportunity to offer a kind word or compliment. It
costs nothing, yet brings so much benefit to both the recipient and
giver:■ Say thank you often.
■ Sincerely praise others’ kindness, honesty, generosity, etc.
■ Plant a suggestion in their minds that they cansucceed.
■ Avoid blame, ridicule, moralising and sarcasm.
■ Only criticise where necessary, and do it constructively. Thoughtless
criticism destroys self-confidence. We do the best we can most of the
time and it hurts when our efforts are belittled.353Stop worrying about the impression you are making and focus on
others instead. Most people are too preoccupied with themselves to take
much notice of you. When you walk into a room, stop thinking,
‘Everyone’s looking at me, I wonder what they think of me?’ Instead
think, ‘What an interesting group of people. I wonder what kind of
lives they lead!’354Accept people as they are. Confident people are happy for others to be
themselves. They don’t try to control them – they don’t need to. They
allow them to think for themselves and make their own decisions.
Trying to change others leads only to resistance and resentment on both
sides. They’re not going to change for you unless theywant to, any more
than you’d change for them.
Here’s a powerful affirmation:‘I gladly and willingly accept everybody exactly as they are.’355